Additional hazing report surfaces at Florida A&M

Thursday

Mar 29, 2012 at 12:01 AMMar 29, 2012 at 9:43 AM

ORLANDO, Fla. - A Florida college roiled by the hazing death of a drum major last fall now faces allegations that other students previously were subjected to hazing at a music professor's home, police said yesterday.

ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida college roiled by the hazing death of a drum major last fall now faces allegations that other students previously were subjected to hazing at a music professor’s home, police said yesterday.

Prosecutors have declined to file charges in the incident, which is said to have occurred at a spaghetti party for members and pledges of a band fraternity at Florida A&M University. The prosecutors said there is a statute-of-limitations issue, according to a police report.

Police in Tallahassee, Fla., where the school is located, found that physical hazing occurred in the spring of 2010 at the off-campus residence of Diron Holloway, a saxophone professor.

According to police, a student told investigators that 14 fraternity pledges were held in a bedroom and brought in pairs into the living room, where they were hit on the back and neck.

The pledges also were paddled with a thick piece of wood, said the student, who said he was bruised after being paddled 20 to 25 times.

Holloway did not return requests for comment.

In a statement yesterday, FAMU President James Ammons called the allegations in the police report “extremely disturbing.”

Concerns about a culture of hazing at one of Florida’s historically black collegesarose last November when drum major Robert Champion, 26, was beaten to death in a hazing ritual.

Investigators said this week that they had turned that case over to local prosecutors.

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